Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised “sincere efforts” by the US to end the war ahead of his summit in Alaska with US President Donald Trump.
Mr Putin said in televised comments that the US was “making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict”.
This was happening, he said, “in order to create long-term conditions for peace between our countries, and in Europe, and in the world as a whole – if, by the next stages, we reach agreements in the area of control over strategic offensive weapons”.
Mr Trump said that he believed Mr Putin was ready to negotiate. “I believe now, he's convinced that he's going to make a deal. He's going to make a deal. I think he's going to, and we're going to find out,” Mr Trump said in an interview on Fox News Radio on Thursday.
He also mentioned that he has three locations in mind for a follow-up meeting with Mr Putin and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“Depending on what happens with my meeting, I'm going to be calling up President Zelenskyy, and let's get him over to wherever we're going to meet,” Mr Trump said, adding that a second meeting could focus on boundary issues.
“I don't want to use the word 'divvy things up,' but you know, to a certain extent, it's not a bad term, OK?” he said, emphasising that a second meeting was not guaranteed and he was not 100 per cent sure the Friday meeting would produce results.
Meanwhile, Russian troops have captured two settlements in eastern Ukraine, it was announced on the eve of the summit between Mr Putin and his US counterpart.
The Defence Ministry said Russian troops captured the village of Iskra and the small town of Shcherbynivka in Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claimed to have annexed in September 2022. Ukraine fired dozens of drones at Russia overnight into the early morning, wounding three people and sparking fires, including at an oil refinery in the southern city of Volgograd.
The Russian army has accelerated its gains in recent months, with Mr Putin keen to seize as much territory as possible before the talks take place. Mr Zelenskyy, who was in London on Thursday to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer, this week conceded that Russian troops had advanced by up to 10km in a narrow section of the front line.
A stepped-up Russian offensive, and the fact Mr Zelenskyy has not been invited to the summit, have heightened European fears that Mr Trump and Mr Putin could strike a deal that forces painful concessions on Ukraine.
The Kremlin has said the Alaska meeting would focus on “the resolution of the Ukraine crisis”.
The meeting will be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since 2021, and comes as Mr Trump seeks to broker an end to Russia's nearly three-and-a-half year offensive. It will be the first time the Russian leader has been permitted on western soil since his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Tens of thousands of people have been killed.
The talks are scheduled to start in Alaska at 11.30am local time and will be held “one-on-one” between the two leaders, with only their interpreters also in attendance, culminating in a joint press conference.
There will also be negotiations between the delegations, which on the Russian side includes Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and economic negotiator Kirill Dmitriev.
Mr Zelenskyy met Mr Starmer at No 10 Downing Street in a strong show of support ahead of the Anchorage summit from which Kyiv and its European allies have been excluded.
Mr Starmer greeted the Ukrainian leader with a warm hug and handshake on the steps of his residence, a day after the pair took part in a virtual call with Mr Trump.
About an hour later, Mr Starmer walked Mr Zelenskyy back to his waiting car and the two leaders shared another embrace as the Ukrainian President left without making any public comment.
Mr Zelenskyy later posted to social media that it has been a “productive” meeting at which they had discussed the “security guarantees that can make peace truly durable if the United States succeeds in pressing Russia to stop the killings and engage in genuine, substantive diplomacy”.
The pair agreed there was a “powerful sense of unity and a strong resolve” to secure peace, Downing Street said.
Mr Starmer said on Wednesday there was now a “viable” chance for a ceasefire in Ukraine after more than three years of fighting.
With such high stakes, all sides were pushing hard in the run-up to the meeting.
Mr Trump has sent mixed messages, saying he could quickly organise a three-way summit afterwards, with both Mr Zelenskyy and Mr Putin, but also warned of his impatience with Russia.
Mr Zelenskyy, who joined Wednesday’s call from Berlin alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, has been keen to rally further support from Europe amid the possibility that the Trump-Putin meeting does not go his way.
He said on Thursday that Kyiv had so far secured $1.5 billion from its European allies to purchase US weapons.
“As of today, we already have $1.5 billion pledged. Through the Nato Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List initiative, Nato members can co-operate to purchase US-made weapons for Ukraine – a mechanism that truly strengthens our defence,” he wrote on X.
He said the Netherlands contributed $500 million, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden collectively pledged $500 million and Germany committed another $500 million.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte posted on X: “Thanks to Germany for stepping up once again by funding a package of US military equipment for Ukraine. Germany is the largest European contributor of military aid to Ukraine and this announcement further underlines its commitment to help the Ukrainian people defend their freedom.”
